'We expect to be winning All-Irelands' - Kilkenny GAA to unveil changes after review

Kilkenny GAA has begun a wide-ranging review of hurling in the county, with clubs highlighting a number of areas they believe need to be addressed.

The Cats exited the Leinster championship in the round-robin stages, amplifying murmurs of discontent across the county that had been bubbling for a lengthy period of time.

Eighteen clubs issued written submissions around perceived problems and potential solutions, while 25 clubs attended a forum on the issue.

A series of recommended improvements are set to be presented to local clubs in October.

“We expect to be winning All-Irelands and we need to really get back to that point,” Head of Coaching and Games with Kilkenny GAA, David Denieffe said.

“After we exited the Leinster hurling championship earlier this summer, there was a lot of commentary and a lot of voices talking about issues that we were facing in Kilkenny hurling.

“The county board, and particularly the county management committee, realised that and put out a call back in June looking for suggestions and observations on how we might improve hurling in the county.”

The county board official was pleased that the ‘Kilkenny identity’ featured in club correspondence.

“At a high level, there's about five or six obvious themes. These are things like the development squads, improving our coaches, how we organise our games and our competitions, how we connect the club and the county, and then obviously facilities and how we run our county would also be very strong themes,” he explained.

“I was delighted to see that people spoke a lot about the Kilkenny identity," Mr Denieffe continued, adding, “I think that was really positive but that wasn't necessarily a surprise to hear. We all have pride in what Kilkenny are.”

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